Sheikh’s Fiancée (7 page)

“But what about Karim?” Alice wondered aloud. “Will I get used to him? What if this doesn’t work out, and he turns out to be another Jason?”

Sheridan sighed, raising a hand to run it through her hair, and then stopping as she seemed to realize she would ruin her up-do. “This is different from Jason. You know what you’re getting into here, and you’ve got an out-clause prepared if things don’t work out.”

“I technically had an out-clause with Jason, too,” Alice said bitterly. “I just wasted three years of my life before I realized that I would have to use it.”

“Oh honey.” Sheridan hugged her again. “Is that what you’re worried about? That you think you’re throwing another year of your life away on a man who doesn’t love you?”

Alice hesitated. She wasn’t
really
throwing her life away – there wasn’t a more eligible man waiting for her that she knew of, and she was still continuing on with her career and ambitions as usual.

“I guess I’m just worried that I’ll end up in the situation I was in with Jason – that I might fall in love with Karim but he won’t love me, or worse, that he might fall in love with me but I won’t with him.” Alice tangled her fingers in the ends of her
dupatta
, squeezing hard enough to leave marks in the fabric. The Furies would kill her if they knew.

“You know that Karim would never force you to stay if you didn’t want to,” Sheridan said gently. “Despite what I said when you told me about this, Karim is a good man. He would never abuse you.”

“I know,” Alice whispered. “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

Sheridan sighed. “In my experience, you can’t get anything worth having without opening yourself up to the possibility of getting hurt,” she said. “I mean, look at Kahlid and I. If I’d refused to help him buy that house, I’d be seven thousand miles away, still selling properties in New York and breaking hearts left, right, and center. Yes, I had to open myself to the possibility of heartbreak, but if I hadn’t done that I wouldn’t have been reunited with my soulmate.”

“I don’t know that Karim isn’t my soulmate,” Alice argued, trying not to be swayed by the temptation of Sheridan’s words. She was more than a little jealous of how utterly in love Sheridan and Kahlid were, but she didn’t want to fool herself into thinking the same would happen with her and Karim. That would just open herself up for a world of disappointment.

“Yes, but you don’t know that he’s not.” Sheridan touched her face. “I’ve noticed the way you two look at each other sometimes when the other isn’t looking. You’ve been doing it since the moment you met. Are you going to deny that there’s chemistry between you two?”

“I…” Alice trailed off when she couldn’t come up with an argument.

“Uh huh.” Sheridan’s eyes were twinkling again. “You still haven’t told me what happened up on that rooftop.”

Alice let out a huff. “We made out,” she said, deciding to relent. “He came up there to talk to me, and I vented at him about how I didn’t know him and we’d barely even kissed, and then the next thing I knew I was in his arms and his tongue was in my mouth.” Heat rushed through her again at the memory.

“Sooooo…? Was he a good kisser?”

“An excellent one,” Alice muttered. “And he gives good orgasms, too.”

“I knew it!” Sheridan crowed. “You two
did
have sex up there!”

“There was no actual penetration,” Alice said, a little dryly. She couldn’t believe how excited Sheridan was getting over a make-out story. “He just used his fingers.”

“Yeah, well they must be magic fingers, judging by the look on your face when you two came back to dinner. You looked like the cat that licked the cream bowl clean.”

Alice felt her face flush hot again. “Oh my God. Could everyone tell?”

Sheridan shrugged. “I don’t really think so. But you’re my best friend, and I know what you look like after you’ve just had sex.”

Alice was spared from further questioning by the sound of her cell phone alarm blaring. “Oh look at that,” she said, snatching up the device so she could turn the sound off. “It’s time to go and meet our driver. We wouldn’t want to be late for the wedding, would we?”

“Wedding, schmedding,” Sheridan said as they gathered up their things. But they both grinned all the same, and as Alice left her room, she felt a little more hopeful about her upcoming nuptials than she did before.

Chapter Eight

Karim took a deep breath as he entered the prayer hall of the mosque in which they were to be married today. The colorful floor tile was cold beneath his bare feet, and he made no sound as he traversed the wide, but sparse hall, where many Muslims knelt on prayer rugs as they communed with Allah. It wasn’t an official prayer time – those were always led by the
imam
– but still, citizens could be found here at all hours of the day.

This mosque was one of the most beautiful places in Dubai, in Karim’s opinion. Though the prayer hall itself was fairly simplistic and bare of adornment aside from the rugs, the walls soared overhead, going up hundreds of feet to finally meet in the center in the shape of a dome. And outside the prayer hall were many other rooms, used for education, tutoring and events.

“
Salaam
,” he greeted Imam Faraj and Imam Kahn, both of whom waited by a small podium set up toward the front of the room. The two prayer leaders were there to conduct the small ceremony.

“Wa’alaykum,”
they responded, bequeathing him with smiles. Both men were of similar age, in their fifties, and sported long dark beards and crow’s feet around their dark eyes. Both wore
thobes
, though Imam Faraj’s was a simple white with gold embroidery around the cuffs and collar, while Imam Kahn’s was a deep blue with white cuffs and a collar.

“It is good to see you finally settling down with a wife,” Imam Faraj murmured quietly so as not to disturb those who were praying.

“Thank you, Imam.” Karim swallowed against a sudden bundle of nerves in his throat. He wasn’t settled down yet, he thought as he glanced toward the entrance to the prayer hall. And he wouldn’t be until after the ceremony and the feast were over and they’d consummated their marriage.

A rather unholy bout of lust stirred in his loins at the thought of finally having Alice in his bed, naked beneath him, where he could make her moan and cry with pleasure without having to fear being overheard by anyone. She’d felt so good in his arms the other night, and kissing her and pleasuring her with his fingers had lit a hunger inside him the likes of which he’d never experienced before. He had to have her again, and soon.

Kahlid entered the hall wearing a green and gold
sherwani
that was only slightly less fancy than Karim’s. The Imams greeted him, and they also bowed respectfully as Kahlid was their ruler. Shortly after that, Mirwais, the family lawyer, came in – he was there to act as the second witness and also in a legal capacity should the need arise.

Seconds stretched into minutes, and even though Karim knew his bride wasn’t even remotely late, he couldn’t help the anxiety squirming in his chest. Was she going to come? She was still going through with this, right? He’d meant to console her that night on the rooftop, but instead he’d dominated her with his carnal desires. Had he pushed her too far, perhaps? Was she even now headed back to New York?

It would absolutely kill him if she left him standing on the proverbial altar. He didn’t know if he could bear the loss and humiliation.

Don’t be ridiculous
.
She’s already procured the proper paperwork, sold her apartment, moved all her things. She’s not going anywhere, at least not anytime soon.

Still, when she walked through the entrance to the mosque, with Sheridan by her side, he felt almost faint with relief. But even that quickly washed away as he was struck by just how incredibly beautiful she looked in her green and gold
ghaara
. Alice had insisted on those colors for their wedding, and he had to admit they looked absolutely stunning on her. The colorful fabrics swathed her body in a way that was both modest and provocative, covering her up while hinting at the prize that lay just beneath. Her brilliant red hair gleamed from beneath the cover of her
dupatta
, and her bottle-green eyes were mesmerizing as they gazed up at him through thickly lashed eyes that had been painted black and rimmed with kohl.

It seemed that it took an eternity for her to cross the prayer floor on Sheridan’s arm, but eventually they made it, and Sheridan handed his bride-to-be off to him.

“Since I’m the one giving her away, I thought you should know it’s traditional for American men to threaten their son-in-laws’ lives if they ever do anything to hurt the daughter they are giving away,” Sheridan said in a low voice meant for his ears alone. “But since I’m pretty sure Alice can take care of you all on her own, I’ll just wish you good luck.”

She winked, then went to stand off to the side, close to Alice.

No pressure.

Rather than facing each other, as they would in a traditional western ceremony, Karim and Alice turned to face the two
Imams
instead. Imam Khan was there to represent Alice, and Imam Fariq was representing Karim. Rather than speaking vows themselves, the two prayer leaders would be doing it on their behalf.

As the two priests spoke in Arabic, reading marriage
ayats
from the Quran in turn, Alice shuffled ever so slightly in Karim’s direction. Karim nearly jumped when her hand brushed his, sending a jolt of energy through him. Allah, but this woman affected him like no other did. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, and his lips nearly twitched at the sparkle in her bottle-green irises. Sneakily, he brushed his fingers back against hers in return, not quite holding hands, and kept his gaze focused on the
Imams
while they finished reading the vows.

Finally, Imam Khan turned toward Karim. “Karim Bahar, do you accept this Alice Winter as your wife?”

“
Khabul Hai
,” he answered, nodding in the affirmative. He saw Alice smile out of the corner of his eye.

Imam Fariq then turned toward Alice. “Alice Winter, do you accept Karim Bahar as your husband?”

Karim held his breath as Alice hesitated, hoping that she would give the appropriate answer.”

“No,” she said.

Karim exhaled in relief. In a Muslim wedding, it was traditional for the priest to ask the bride three times to accept on behalf of the groom, and it was considered extremely rude and disrespectful for the bride to say yes on the first try. Imam Fariq smiled, then asked again.

“Alice Winter, do you accept Karim Bahar as your husband?”

“No.”

Anxiety stirred in Karim’s chest again, and he had to school his expression. She wasn’t required to say no on the second try, just the first. Was she just toying with him? Or did she mean to refuse him? Her expression was completely unreadable, so he couldn’t tell.

Allah, please let her accept me.

“Alice Winter,” the Imam asked for the final time, “do you accept Karim Bahar as your husband?”

There was a long moment of silence, and then Alice smiled and said, “
Khabul Hai.”

Karim let out a sigh of relief, and Alice gave him a small grin. So she
was
just toying with him! The little witch! He was going to make her pay for that later, he guaranteed it… but right now, he was just happy that she’d accepted him.

“Very good. Let us sign the documents then, so you both may move forward as husband and wife.”

***

Alice and Karim signed the wedding documents, then adjourned to the mosque’s banquet hall for the biggest feast she’d ever been to in her life. There were over five hundred people crammed into the mosque for the celebration, and they danced and laughed and sang while loud, boisterous music played.

Alice and Karim joined into the celebration, too, and though Alice was still a little stunned at the fact that she was married, she was quickly swept up in the festive atmosphere and was dancing and laughing and singing with the best of them. By the end of the night, she’d made about a million friends and had afternoon tea scheduled with about three dozen women for when she came back from her honeymoon. She’d been worried she wouldn’t fit in because she was white, but everyone here was so nice and welcoming she soon forgot all about her fears.

Hours later, when she was stuffed and exhausted, Alice and Karim were finally escorted outside to the waiting limousine. Guests showered them with flower petals and well-wishes, and Alice and Karim ran toward the car laughing and waving.

They shut the door behind them, still giggling, and Alice collapsed back against the seat, exhausted but happy.

“You’ve got flower petals in your hair,” she teased Karim, reaching out to pluck a white rose petal from his dark, wavy locks.

“You do, too,” he said, his amber eyes sparkling as he reached for her own hair. But as he touched her red locks, his eyes softened. “But on you, they look beautiful.”

His hand drifted from her hair to her cheek, and he traced her soft skin as he gazed deep into her eyes. Alice’s heart began to beat faster as the limousine rolled away from the curb, sliding into the late evening traffic. They were alone together for the first time since two nights ago, back on the rooftop when he’d pinned her to the couch and pleasured her like no man had ever done before despite her vast experience.

“I think they look beautiful on you, too,” she said quietly, reaching up to thread her fingers through his thick hair. “They look like they’re floating because your hair is so dark.”

“Men aren’t supposed to be beautiful,” he said gruffly, but his eyes warmed all the same. “They’re supposed to be handsome.”

“Yes, well maybe you’re handsome
and
beautiful at the same time.” She leaned in and nipped him playfully on the tip of his nose.

The next thing she knew, his arms were wrapped tightly around her, and she was in his lap. His hot mouth came down on hers, and she gasped as the sexual tension between them swelled. He kissed her hard, then deep, sliding his tongue inside her mouth until she couldn’t breathe, but she couldn’t bring herself to care as she was overwhelmed with sensation. His taste, his smell, his touch… she soaked it all in greedily and clung to him, wanting more.